Targeting Americans (2019) | 60 Minutes Archive
In a Nutshell
In 2016-2017, 25 US diplomats and families in Cuba and 15 in China, including Mark Lindsay and Katherine Warner in Guangzhou, suffered severe brain injuries—headaches, memory loss, vision issues—from mysterious attacks with sounds like rolling marbles and symptoms matching microwave or RF energy weapons, per victims and NSA insights. Medical studies at University of Pennsylvania confirmed concussion-like brain trauma without impact; Secretary Pompeo validated China cases as similar to Cuba's, yet State Department denies attack status, denying victims benefits amid FBI probes suspecting Russia, Cuba, or China. Broader fears persist of ongoing threats to Americans abroad, with Canadians also affected in Cuba.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
In 2016 and 2017, 25 Americans, including CIA agents at the US embassy in Cuba, suffered serious brain injuries causing impaired vision, memory loss, and other persistent symptoms. At least 15 American officials in China suffered unexplained brain trauma soon after. The FBI is investigating whether these Americans were attacked by a mysterious weapon that leaves no trace. Evidence points to a hostile foreign government's plan to target Americans serving abroad and their families.
Mark Lindsay, a State Department security officer at the US consulate in Guangzhou, China, started feeling lightheaded in November 2017, with increasing headaches. His wife also had headaches. They heard strange sounds in their apartment: like a marble rolling in a 6-foot diameter metal funnel, getting faster toward the hole—loud, heard 3-4 times over his son's crib right before bedtime. Symptoms worsened: headaches, short-term memory loss. Lindsay wears prescribed glasses due to light sensitivity. He believes he was targeted for using top-secret equipment to analyze electronic threats to diplomatic missions. "There is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that this was a directed attack against my neighbor and I."
Katherine Warner's Symptoms
Katherine Warner, Lindsay's neighbor one floor up, a US Commerce Department trade officer promoting American business from the Guangzhou consulate, woke up with intense pressure on both temples and a low oscillating humming sound in her head—painful. Symptoms started October 2017: hives all over body, daily headaches, extreme fatigue, vomiting, nosebleeds. Even her dogs threw up blood. She initially thought it was China's toxic smog. Her mother stayed 3 months and developed the same symptoms: headaches, ringing in ears, difficulty recalling words. Werner was medically evacuated to the US after reporting. She didn't know details of Havana incidents, only headlines about hearing loss and attacks on diplomats.
Mark Lindsay: "This was a directed standoff attack against my apartment. It was a weapon. Of course, it was a weapon. An energy weapon. Absolutely. I believe it's RF, radio frequency energy in the microwave range."
A 2014 NSA statement in a workers' compensation case described a high-powered microwave system weapon that can weaken, intimidate, or kill without evidence, designed to bathe targets' living quarters in microwaves.
Mike Beck's Case
Former NSA employee Mike Beck developed Parkinson's after a 1996 assignment in a hostile country (not Cuba or China, classified) with colleague Chuck Gabet. "You believe that you and Chuck Gabet were attacked with this microwave weapon? Yes." Beck has knowledge of the hostile country's intelligence modus operandi. He shared classified new intelligence in briefings with House and Senate Intelligence Committee staff, relevant to Cuba and China cases.
No official confirmation linking Beck's case to 40 Americans injured in China and Cuba. Recent patients treated for concussion-like symptoms despite no head trauma.
Dr. Tina Shetty's Assessment
Dr. Tina Shetty, Mark Lindsay's neurologist: Lindsay reported headache, memory loss, sleep difficulties, emotionality, irritability—characteristic of mild traumatic brain injury without head trauma. University of Pennsylvania Center for Brain Injury and Repair study presumes functional brain injury to widespread networks.
Mark Lindsay and others, including Robin and Britta Garfield, enrolled. Symptoms match full suite from Cuba. Robin Garfield, Commerce Department trade officer in Shanghai with wife and two young children: heard sound for months. Britta: felt hit from left side like electric shock, paralyzing, unable to move or speak—felt in danger. Children: blurred vision, loss of balance; daughter fell multiple times abnormally.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed Katherine Werner's brain injuries match Cuba victims: "We had an incident in Guangzhou that the medical indications are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba." State Department doubts other 14 China cases, told Lindsay his symptoms do not correlate with Havana cohort. Told Robin Garfield illness from 17-year-old baseball injury, ignoring family. Patients feel State minimizes due to US-China trade relations—easier with Cuba.
Impacts on Patients
Refusal to classify as attack affects benefits: no paid leave, medical bills uncovered after one year, career, finances, rehabilitation. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen wrote Pompeo: "The group from China is increasingly feeling isolated and left behind by the State Department."
State Department statement: will provide care regardless of diagnosis or location. Cuba patients officially victims of attack; China not yet. National Academies of Sciences assisting medical investigation. FBI investigating. Intelligence sources suspect Russia besides Cuba and China. Microwave technology not rare, possibly multiple countries. US intelligence debating cause.
Victims: "You were in harm's way and you didn't know it. Exactly. I didn't know it. And I'm afraid that others may be in harm's way and may not know it. I don't know what the future looks like for me, but I would do anything in my power to prevent this from happening to somebody else serving their country." Canadian government reports 15 Canadians injured in Cuba, including diplomats and families.
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